1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to beverage brewing apparatus and in particular to coffee brewing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In one improved form of brewing apparatus, such as shown in United States Letters Patent 3,771,431 of Milton F. Ehrenberg, Jr., owned by the assignee hereof, coffee is brewed by means of a bagged charge of ground coffee disposed in a brewing chamber in contact with a hot water delivery element. The brewed coffee flows upwardly from the brewing chamber through a filter and thence outwardly through a spout into a subjacent decanter or the like.
As shown in the Ehrenberg patent, the cartridge defining the brewing chamber is removably installed on a bracket so as to position the bagged charge in contact with the lower surface of a force distributing portion of the water delivery element. As further illustrated in the Ehrenberg patent, the expansion of the bagged charge upon the introduction of the hot water thereinto causes the bag to swell up around the periphery of the delivery element.
It is conventional in the art to provide such bagged charges to have preselected different brewing capacities or volumes depending on the number of cups of coffee intended to be brewed. Thus, in certain instances, a relatively large bag of ground coffee may be utilized for brewing a relatively large number of cups of coffee or, alternatively, a relatively small bag of ground coffee may be utilized for brewing a relatively small number of cups of ground coffee with the same apparatus.